CHAMPCAR/CART: Team KOOL Green tests Texas

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. â€” Dario Franchitti and Team KOOL Green hit the track at
Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) on Thursday, February 22 for the team's first
and only test at the 1.5-mile superspeedway before the inaugural Texas 600
on April 29. ...

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Dario Franchitti and Team KOOL Green hit the track at
Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) on Thursday, February 22 for the team's first
and only test at the 1.5-mile superspeedway before the inaugural Texas 600
on April 29. Franchitti turned 190 trouble-free miles in his KOOL
Honda-Reynard with a best solo lap of 225.7mph (23.9 seconds).

Franchitti was pleased with the results of the test, but expressed some
reservations about the TMS facility.

"We had a productive day and should be able to come here in April with a
competitive package," said Franchitti. "It's a very fast track. Though
the grandstands and garages are very impressive, the track itself is rough
in spots and there need to be some safety upgrades before we actually race
there. All of the drivers are going to need to pay close attention when
the race begins."

Team KOOL Green team manager Kyle Moyer believes TMS has the potential to
provide an exciting CART race.

"I understand the drivers' concerns with the track surface as well as the
configuration," said Moyer. "The cars can run any line through the
banking but they'll have to get in single file as they come through the
kink on the front stretch. That will require a lot of cooperation by the
drivers, but I think the fans will see great racing."

Although the team had initially planned to test for two days at TMS, the
#27 TKG crew loaded-up on Thursday afternoon and headed for Phoenix, sight
of Franchitti's final pre-season test. Chief engineer Iain Watt says the
team accomplished all of its goals for TMS in a single day of testing and
that the next step will come on race weekend when there will be a full
field of cars on the track.

"We worked through our test list in one afternoon," said Watt. "We should
have a good baseline when we offload here in April. There wasn't much
more we could learn about race setup with the limited number of cars here
today."

The #27 Team KOOL Green crew is converting the car into a short oval
configuration before a little R&R on the way to the team's final test at
Phoenix International Raceway on February 27 and 28.